The Dortmund Connection, Troy Deeney’s Cojones, Player Ratings And More.

Well, that turned out to be a rather eventful match. We scored our 1000th Premiership goal, Petr Cech accomplished his 200th clean sheet and Mesut Ozil became the quickest player to reach 50 assists in English league football – beating the record previously held by Eric Cantona. On top of all those accolades, Troy Deeney learned a valuable lesson in what karma does to those that run their mouths off when they ought to show a little more respect to their fellow professionals. We won 3-0 and it was a good day.

Here’s how I saw the game:

First half:

We went in after the first period leading through Mustafi excellent header, but it wasn’t altogether comfortable. Watford created a couple of dangerous openings and maybe should have scored. It wasn’t all one-way traffic, of course; Aubameyang had a couple of very good chances that he perhaps should have buried – one in the first few minutes from an Ozil through ball especially. His movement really is exceptional and as he grows into the team and become more comfortable with his teammates and the difference between our play and Dortmund’s, he’ll score a lot of goals here. He’s a quality centre forward.

Second half:

There was a moment where nerves stated to jangle. Soon after those moments of jangly trepidation, we extended our lead thank to the Dortmund connection. Mkhitaryan spotted Aubameyang’s dart towards the penalty area and the rangy striker rounded Watford’s keeper to make it 2-0. At that point, I assumed it was all over but Watford quickly had an opportunity to get themselves back into it thanks to a clumsy challenge by Maitland-Niles in the penalty area. The referee pointed to the spot and Troy Deeney wobbled up to take the kick. It was a sh*t penalty easily saved by Cech and he looked like a ginormous arse. The Arsenal fans took great delight in letting him know as much. Richly deserved. He obviously was missing something in the run up to take the kick…

Watford’s heads dropped as that opportunity left and the remainder of the game played out in a comfortable fashion – it might have been different had the penalty been scored. Soon after, Aubameyang teed up Mkhitaryan in a reversal of the Dortmund connection and the score was 3-0. Job done.

Player ratings:

Petr Cech (9) Clean sheet, some great saves. Made Deeney look like a tw*t. MOTM.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles (7). A little too casual at times but generally good. Young man’s mistake for the penalty.

Shkodran Mustafi (8) Solid throughout. Great goal.

Rob Holding (7) Occasionally a bit off the pace, but good overall.

Sead Kolasinac (7) Getting back to form.

Mohamed Elneny (8) Very good. Not flashy, but rarely puts a foot wrong.

Alex Iwobi (5) He’s either short of ability or confidence. No idea which.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan (7) Good in parts, not so good in others.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (8) Always looked dangerous.

(Sub) Danny Welbeck (6) Really needs a goal. Deserves one, too.

(Sub) Callum Chambers (6) Solid when needed to replace Mustafi

(Sub) Jack Wilshere (N/A) Not on for long.

Summary:

A good win and many positives to be taken from the game; 3 points and another clean sheet to add to Thursday’s. We’ve bigger tests to come in the following weeks, but this was certainly a good start on the road to better performances and there can be little to complain about – although I’m certain someone will find something.

On that note, I’ll leave you for today. Use the comments to tell me what your thought of the game.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

Until that time, and as always; thanks for reading, you beautiful bastards.